


For once in my life

by twomoredays



Category: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Genre: Comfort, Coming Out, Hockey as a metaphor for well-being, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twomoredays/pseuds/twomoredays
Summary: “Speaking ofus; have you seen Cameron yet? He didn’t show up to history today.”“Sorry, beloved, I have not.” Ferris steals a few chips from Sloane’s little bag and crunches obnoxiously in her ear. “Though he’s probably called in sick. Games always take a lot out of him, y’know?”
Relationships: Ferris Bueller/Cameron Frye/Sloane Peterson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 76





	For once in my life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [penaltyboxed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/penaltyboxed/gifts).



> Inspired by " _Hey, remember how mad he got when I broke my retainer? Come on, that was just a little piece of plastic._ " & Cameron's Gordie Howe jersey because I'm a gay little Red Wings fan always

“The Red Wings lost last night, against the Blackhawks,” Ferris informs Sloane, who’s scratching a long and complicated formula into the margins of her notebook. She only hums in response. “Bad game honestly, too many penalties, y’know? If they just scored, it’d be so much easier.”

“You shouldn’t let too many people hear you say that, Ferris.” Sloane laughs lightly. She takes a bite of her sandwich before adding another number to her notes. “We’re in _Chicago_ , remember?” 

“If I talk bad about the Wings, Cameron gets upset! That means I can’t steal his Howe from him for jersey day during spirit week, and how am I supposed to get in the good graces of Sarah on student council?” 

Sloane raises her eyebrows.

“She makes the best brownies, you know that, Sloane,” Ferris reasons, smoothing down Sloane’s few flyaways with a gentle hand. “She gives me a few extra just because she likes me so much. I gotta provide for us _somehow_.”

“Oh, of _course_.” Sloane bats Ferris’ hand away, and then stops, pursing her lips just slightly. “Speaking of _us_ ; have you seen Cameron yet? He didn’t show up to history today.”

“Sorry, beloved, I have not.” Ferris steals a few chips from Sloane’s little bag and crunches obnoxiously in her ear. “Though he’s probably called in sick. Games always take a lot out of him, y’know?” 

She pushes his face away and looks more fond than probably acceptable. It’s only been about six months since they started dating officially, holding hands in public, telling Cameron, and all those kinds of things. Sloane’s mom says they’re still in their honeymoon phase, and that it’ll wear off soon, but Sloane finds it hard to believe her. 

“D'ya want my clementine?” Ferris offers once he’s done chewing. He pulls it out of his pocket and presents it to her in the palm of his hand, all dramatic, making Sloane laugh into her hand and nod her head. “My mom really gets on my case if I come home with one. Says I’m wasteful, or ungrateful. Can’t remember which one though.”

“Both, probably.” Sloane teases. 

Once he’s got the peel open, Ferris hands Sloane a piece of clementine instead of responding. She accepts and chews quietly, picking up her pen to scrawl a few more notes before flipping the page over.

“Whatcha working on?” Ferris asks and feeds her another piece now that her hands are busy.

“Well, now I’m fixing up my history notes, so Cam can understand them better later on,” Sloane covers her mouth to talk, always polite, and the ring Ferris bought her shines in the awful lighting of the cafeteria. “So he doesn’t fall too far behind, I decided to take some extra notes to explain to him.”

“History isn’t too bad though,” Ferris hums, peering over Sloane’s shoulder so he can scan over her neat handwriting. “Always repeats itself, doesn’t it?”

“More or less.” Sloane agrees. 

Ferris nods and leans away so he can go back to picking at his own lunch. 

They exist silently for a few moments, the cafeteria buzzing with kids all over, Ferris dissecting his sandwich while Sloane furrows her brow over a few illegible pen scribbles she apparently thought were words half an hour ago. 

Then, Sloane looks up and breaks out into a smile when she sees a familiar winged wheel right out of the corner of her eye.

“Glad you could join-- Oh my God, Cameron,” She stands up quick, banging her knees against the table and shrugging off Ferris’ arm. 

Ferris’ head shoots up in concern and he furrows his brow. 

“Shit, Cam.” He adds to Sloane’s exclamation. 

Cameron’s got a black eye. It’s an ugly yellow on the low part of his brow and high part of his cheek, just starting to become sickly which means it’s fresh. He has his lips pressed into a tight line while Sloane’s hands flutter around his face, not touching him but absolutely wanting to.

“Hi. The Wings lost last night.” Cameron says like that’s what they’ve been waiting to hear.

“Jesus Christ.” Sloane tugs at his jersey sleeve so he sits in between her and Ferris, face devastatingly serious. She brushes Cameron’s bangs out of his face while Ferris holds Cameron’s chin between his finger and thumb, both trying to examine his face in the poor lighting. 

“What happened, man?” Ferris frowns. 

“I broke my retainer.” Cameron answers with his eyes trained on the ceiling. 

“I know that,” Ferris nods carefully. “I was there when it happened, Cam. Why does it matter though?”

Sloane reaches around Ferris to steal the can of Coke he’s been hiding in his backpack, and presses the cool metal to Cameron’s cheek. She apologies softly when he flinches. 

“I went to the game with my grandpa.” Cameron lets Sloane smooth down his eyebrows after she assigns Ferris to can duty. “Yzerman smiled at me, I think.”

“That’s really nice, Cameron,” Sloane smiles softly, brow still furrowed with concern. “I know how much you like him these days.” 

Ferris switches hands once one gets too cold and sits up straighter to catch Cameron’s eye. It’s not unusual for Cameron to be vague and off topic on occasion, but it grinds Ferris’ gears when it happens during important moments like these. 

“Once I got home,” Cameron starts. “And my grandpa left, my dad told me he found my retainer.”

Sloane makes a soft noise to urge him to go on. 

“He was real quiet at first, so I didn’t think he was that mad, y’know? It’s just plastic. I could probably still wear it for a little while longer, no need to see the orthodontist…” He trails off but finally looks Ferris in the eye. 

“He _was_ mad, though.” Ferris nods. “Are you sure that’s what he was mad about though? The retainer, and not something that happened at work, and he took it out on you? Not that that’s okay.” 

Cameron shrugs halfheartedly. He swallows then, slow and thick like he’s choking back bile. 

“I’m sorry, Cameron.” Sloane soothes. “That’s really not okay of him.”

Silence follows. The cafeteria is still loud but it doesn’t matter. 

With a gentle hand, Cameron pushes Ferris’s hand and the can of coke away. The bruise doesn’t look better, the same as it did minutes ago, and it still makes Ferris’ stomach turn.

“You can stay at my--” Ferris starts.

“I think he’s mad because I’m gay.” Cameron interrupts. He’s staring down at the winged wheel on his jersey when he says it. 

Sloane and Ferris blink at Cameron, then at each other. No judgement on either of their faces, just surprise. 

“Oh, Cameron, that’s great,” Sloane takes one of Cameron’s hands in both of hers, and rubs her thumb over his knuckles. “I’m really proud of you, and I’m glad you feel good enough to tell us.” 

Ferris nods.

“That’s the thing, though,” Cameron picks at a loose thread on his sleeve. “I don’t think I feel good about it. Being gay. Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

Ferris clacks his teeth together to fill the lull and ignores the look Sloane gives him.

“Cameron, you’re gay,” He says firmly. Cameron’s eyes dart over to him, alarmed and almost panicked, and he presses his lips into another tight line. 

“Ferris--” Sloane turns to look at him through the curtain of her hair. 

“You’re gay if you say you’re gay, like it or not,” Ferris continues. “That doesn’t mean your dad can do,” He makes a gesture to Cameron’s bruise. “ _That_ to you. It’s not the end of the world, and neither is your broken retainer.”

Cameron blinks. 

“Cam, you’re my best friend.” Ferris eases his face into a smile. “I don’t care what you do in life.”

“Oh,” A small smile tugs at the corners of Cameron’s mouth despite his best efforts. “Thanks.”

“I mean, c’mon,” Ferris rests a hand on his chest, right over Gordie’s C and Cameron’s heart. “You’re already a Dead Wings fan, how much worse can you get?”

“Not that being gay is bad,” Sloane amends with a gentle tone, hand coming up to rest on top of Ferris’. 

“Being gay is _wonderful_ , my dear friend.” Ferris agrees. 

“I think I’m gay.” Cameron says, soft and shy. “At least a little bit.”

“And that’s great news!” Ferris is grinning now. “I might be a little bit gay too. What about you, my beloved Sloane?”

She laughs at that, head tilting back, and Ferries watches her with a fond expression that Cameron mirrors. 

“Maybe,” She giggles. “Who knows. I have this really great boyfriend right now though, he’s keeping me pretty busy these days. Oh, and he’s got this cute best friend,” Sloane fixes Cameron’s hair. “So I’m booked for at _least_ the next decade. I’ve got no time to be gay.” 

Things go more or less back to normal after that. Cameron fits comfortably between Ferris and Sloane, especially once they hide his black eye behind Sloane’s chanel sunglasses, and tug Ferris’ beret over his messy hair he didn’t get to comb that morning. 

“I copied the history notes for you,” Sloane tells Cameron once she’s swallowed down the last bite of her sandwich. “They aren’t that complicated, but we can go over them later.”

“You both can come over after school today,” Ferris adds. “I found the tape we recorded the Buffalo game on too, if you wanna watch it.” He says while nudging Cameron with his elbow.

Cameron smiles into Ferris’ sandwich and nods in agreement.

“That sounds good,” He says through his mouthful and happily accepts the chiding pinch he gets from Sloane for being gross. 

Ferris finally cracks open the can of Coke and takes a sip before handing it over to Cameron, who takes his own sip, and then passes it to Sloane.

“I think the Wings are gonna win their next game.” Ferris says with too much confidence, watching Cameron out of the corner of his eye. “I’m absolutely sure of it. They’ll be fine.”

(They don’t end up winning but this time, it’s okay.)

**Author's Note:**

> If this is unintelligible, please ignore that. I wrote this in two hours and only skimmed it once as 'editing'.
> 
> It's horribly subtle, and barely implied, but yes, twink rookie unibrow Steve Yzerman is Cameron's gay awakening


End file.
